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Roberts checks out his feet at Fenway Park

Roberts checks out his feet at Fenway Park

Dave Roberts steals second base and later scores to tie the game, sparking the Red Sox's epic comeback in the 2004 ALCS

By Corey Brock
/
MLB.com |

BOSTON -- Five dollars will get you more than just a hot Fenway Frank on the right-field concourse of this venerable ballpark -- it will also afford you a chance to taste some Red Sox history.

This is where Padres first-base coach Dave Roberts - who stole that famous base for the Red Sox in the 2004 American League Championship Series against the Yankees -- will forever be immortalized.

Or, at least his feet will.

Roberts and several other Red Sox greats have had their hands and, in Roberts' case, his feet set in stone among the brick area near Gates B and C at Fenway Park.

"It was pretty surreal," Roberts said of seeing his feet.

In Spring Training, sculptor Douglas Borkman of the Rhode Island School of Design came to the Padres' Spring Training facility in Arizona to collect Roberts' footprints for an exhibit that will be on display this season at Fenway Park.

Roberts dropped his feet into a body casting mix called Alja-Safe. On Tuesday, as the Padres opened a three-game series against the Red Sox, Roberts got to see his feet again.

"The only thing I've ever had molded was my teeth," Roberts said, joking. "I've got small feet [size 9] … but they were used for a pretty good purpose."

That stolen base helped propel the Red Sox out of a 0-3 hole in the ALCS and on to the World Series, where they swept the Cardinals for their first title since 1918.

This is Roberts' second trip back to Fenway Park with the Padres. They took two of three games in a series here in 2011. As he was then, Roberts was peppered with questions by Padres players about that particular stolen base and the wild ride of 2004.

"It's such a special place," Roberts said. "My perspective has changed. I want our players to appreciate and understand how special this place is."

Corey Brock is a reporter for MLB.com. Keep track of @FollowThePadres on Twitter. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.